Pipeline slurry spills threaten wetlands

Monday

Apr 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 29, 2013 at 10:43 AM

A series of pipeline-construction spills by one company has the Ohio EPA demanding answers and environmental-advocacy groups warning that this is one more activity tied to fracking that is endangering streams and wetlands.

Spencer Hunt, The Columbus Dispatch

A series of pipeline-construction spills by one company has the Ohio EPA demanding answers and environmental-advocacy groups warning that this is one more activity tied to fracking that is endangering streams and wetlands.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials call the spills “ inadvertent returns.” They involve a lubricant made of clay and water that sometimes gushes unexpectedly from the ground when builders drill tunnels to install natural-gas pipelines.

Ohio EPA records show that Denver-based MarkWest Energy had four spills between Sept. 17 and Feb. 9, polluting streams and wetlands in Harrison and Belmont counties. The Harrison County spills included one late last summer affecting Brushy Fork near Cadiz, and a Nov. 4 spill near Cadiz that fouled 1 1/2 miles of Boggs Fork and a nearby wetland and took more than three months to clean up.

“I find the repeated nature and magnitude of these releases unacceptable,” Scott Nally, the Ohio EPA’s director, wrote to the company on March 8.

As Ohio EPA officials and the company discussed possible fines and methods for preventing more mishaps, MarkWest reported two additional spills, on March 9 and March 27.

The spills themselves are not poisonous, but the clay sinks into wetlands and streambeds where it can smother aquatic plants and other wildlife. MarkWest’s attorney, Chris Jones, said the company is cooperating.

“They’ve been addressed,” Jones, a former Ohio EPA director, said of the spills. “Some of them, it’s a very minimal amount.”

Environmental advocates say this is one more problem tied to the Utica shale-drilling boom.

Most of the focus is on fracking, a process that pumps millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground to shatter shale and release trapped oil and natural gas.

“ With the amount of pipelines that are threatening to come into Ohio, it was inevitable that there would be a problem,” said Trent Dougherty, with the Ohio Environmental Council.

The spills follow a widespread effort to build pipelines that link shale wells to processing plants where natural gas is separated from propane and ethane.

Since June, there are 138 such pipelines in various stages of planning or construction in Ohio. That’s when the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio started reviewing and tracking the pipeline projects.

MarkWest is responsible for 48 of the pipelines, according to PUCO records, but it isn’t the only pipeline company to report spills, and they aren’t limited to eastern Ohio projects. The Ohio EPA’s database includes six spills — two reported by East Ohio Gas, one by Utica East Ohio Midstream, two by NiSource and one by American Electric Power — between February and April 8.

The number of pipelines in eastern Ohio is expected to grow as more shale wells are drilled. Ohio Department of Natural Resources records show that 305 have been drilled so far.

Tom Stewart, vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said the spills pose minimal environmental risks.

“It’s not like you’re putting a pollutant out there,” he said. “You can’t have it lying around smothering plant life, so you clean it up.”

In the March 8 letter, Nally said the spills “resulted in significant degradation to Ohio’s streams and wetlands.” Nally also sent the company a draft order that would require it to perform restoration work and take steps to prevent spills.

The company responded by deleting from the draft a detailed description of the stream monitoring the state wants and an order for additional stream-restoration work intended to help fix past spills.

EPA spokeswoman Erin Strouse said the agency isn’t obligated to accept MarkWest’s changes. The company’s two spills in March are likely to be taken into consideration when the agency finalizes its orders and fines, she said. If there is no agreement reached with the company, the EPA could sue.